


Baseball and Babysitting

by WakeUpDreaming



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Baby Lamontagne, Baseball, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Spencer babysits Henry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 04:20:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4125303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>JJ enlists Spencer to babysit Henry while she's in labor, but when Henry decides he wants to play baseball, Spencer has to call in Derek.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baseball and Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [棒球与保姆](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4164537) by [purplesheep22](https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplesheep22/pseuds/purplesheep22)



> But officer I didn't MEAN to get into Criminal Minds and start writing fic for an entirely new fandom!

“You want me to what?!”

“I don’t want you to, I need you to,” says JJ, “when I’m in labor, I can’t count on just anybody to watch Henry. He snows all the babysitters we hire.”

“He snowed me!” Spencer exclaims. “He told me that the 7:30 bedtime was only for weekdays and we watched The Princess and the Frog twice. Twice! You can’t trust me with children.”

JJ laughs. “Yeah, actually, Henry told me about how he fell asleep halfway through. Nice try though. You’re great with the kids.”

Spencer sighs. “I’m babysitting Henry for the rest of my life, aren’t I?”

JJ nods. “Oh yeah.”

* * *

 

JJ goes into labor halfway through August. There’s something in the damp summer heat that seems to still the unsubs. Spencer gets the call at 3 in the morning while he’s asleep sprawled out on his bed.

“Agent Reid,” he says, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “what’s wrong?”

“Hey, Spencer,” comes Will’s drawl, “JJ’s in labor – baby’s on her way. Can you come stay with Henry?”

Spencer is suddenly awake and says, “Yes, of course, be there in fifteen minutes,” as he yanks a pair of jeans over his legs.

He grabs his go-bag, because it seems appropriate, and makes it to the Jareau-Lamontagne household in fourteen minutes and eighteen seconds.

“I’m here!” Spencer announces, and he’s greeted with JJ saying, “God, finally, get me a freakin’ epidural before I kill somebody.”

Spencer looks at Will, who is calmly offering his arm to JJ.

“She’s not a fan of the labor part of the deal,” Will says with a smile, and it earns him a half grin and an eye roll from JJ.

“This whole thing is your fault,” JJ insists, bumping Will’s shoulder with her head affectionately. “Let’s get to the hospital so she doesn’t make a grand entrance on the living room floor.”

“Is, uh, is Henry upstairs?” Spencer asked. “When do you need me to bring him to the hospital?”

“Henry’s out like a light,” JJ says, “and we’ll call when the baby comes. I don’t want to disturb Henry’s sleep.”

Spencer smiles at them. “Then I’ll take the couch,” he says. “I’ll let you know if Henry decides to do anything tomorrow.”

“The park down the street is his fav –” JJ’s expression shifts from conversational interest to full on rage, “Epidural. Hospital. Now,” she says, and Will whisks her out the door.

Spencer checks on Henry to make sure he’s okay, and then falls into a half-sleep on JJ’s couch.

* * *

“Uncle Spencer. Wake up!"

Spencer makes a garbled noise.

"Uncle Spencer, is Mommy having my sister?”

Spencer rolls over to see Henry Lamontagne staring at him under his heavy blond hair, an inquisitive expression that makes him look just like JJ.

“Yeah, Henry,” says Spencer, sitting up. “Your sister is on her way. Haven’t gotten a call yet.”

“They’re at the hospital?” Henry asks, climbing onto the couch next to Spencer. “Because Daddy says I can’t visit until after the baby’s born because Mommy will say bad words I’m not allowed to hear.”

Spencer laughs. “Yes, well, your mom is having a baby, and that can hurt and make you say bad words. But I think she’s a superhero for having a baby.”

Henry lights up as he crawls on top of Spencer’s lap. “That’s what Daddy says! He says Mommy’s a superhero too!”

Spencer’s not really sure when he became not only comfortable with but open to cuddling with Henry, but, then again, he thinks he’s always been okay with being close to Henry. Henry throws his arms around Spencer’s neck.

“Let’s do superman,” Henry says.

Spencer studies Henry. “Superman?”

“Yeah. Daddy does it all the time. You stand up and I’m your cape.”

Spencer tries it. Spencer ends up on the ground, Henry laughing hysterically on his back.

“That didn’t work so well,” Henry says through his giggles.

“You are very right,” Spencer says, laughing along with him. “So, what do you want to do today?”

Henry considers it for a moment. “What time is it?”

Spencer checks his watch. “It’s only six thirty. Why don’t we have breakfast and then you can decide?”

“I want to play baseball,” Henry says with more authority than any six year old ought to have. “Can we play baseball?”

“I’m not good at baseball,” Spencer says, wondering how he’ll live with himself when he loses to a six year old.

“That’s okay,” Henry says. “We can call Derek. Derek’s good at baseball. He can teach both of us.”

Another thing Spencer wouldn’t live down.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Spencer asks.

“Baseball.”

“You can’t eat baseballs for breakfast,” Spencer says, trying not to laugh.

“Okay. Waffles. And then baseball.”

So Spencer makes waffles and they eat together, Henry smothering his pancakes with maple syrup and Spencer with strawberries on his, until Henry holds up Spencer’s cell phone.

“How did you get that?” Spencer asks, patting himself down. “How did you get my phone?”

“Fell out on the couch,” Henry said. “Can we call Derek now?”

Spencer suddenly has the realization that Henry Lamontagne is going to be a very dangerous, very smart child who will either take over the world or make someone else do it for him.

“I’m not sure if he’ll be awake – ” Spencer begins, but Henry’s already shoving the phone into Spencer’s hands. It’s sticky.

“How about you wash your hands while I call him,” Spencer says, wiping the phone down with some paper towels.

Henry nods and runs off, and Spencer bites the bullet, hitting speed dial 5 to get Derek.

There’s only one ring before he picks up. “Hey, Reid,” Derek says, sounding breathless. “Just left the gym. Why you up this early, pretty boy?”

Spencer has spent many years pretending that the nickname doesn’t throw him off every time Derek uses it. “JJ’s in labor,” Spencer says, “and I got to be babysitter again.”

“Yeah, but you’re the best with kids,” Derek replies. “What’s going on?”

“Henry wants to play baseball,” Spencer says.

There’s a pause on the other end of the line until Derek laughs. “I’ll be there in, say, fifteen minutes?”

“Do you want to bring Savannah?” Spencer asks before he catches himself.

Derek’s quiet. “That, uh,” he sighs, “that ended a couple of months ago. She got offered chief of surgery at a hospital outside of Boston.”

“That’s amazing,” says Spencer, “I mean, for her. Are you okay?”

He hears Derek sigh. “Look, man, I’m proud of her. I’m glad she’s happy but I didn’t feel great for a while. Got back into the gym before work in the mornings.”

“I noticed,” Spencer says.

Then there’s silence on both ends of the line.

“I just mean you were at work earlier than I was for the past couple of months,” Spencer says. Except, of course, that’s not what he means, and Spencer apparently isn’t good at talking over the phone today.

Derek, to Spencer’s relief, laughs. “I’m on my way to JJ’s house. See you soon.”

“Hi Derek!” yells Henry.

“Tell the little man I say hi,” Derek says, and he hangs up the phone.

Spencer throws the phone on the table only to see Henry looking up at him, very interested.

“Are you and Derek married?” he asks.

Spencer stares at Henry. “Very much not so,” he says. “I mean, no. No we are not.”

“When Daddy’s on the phone with Mommy he looks like that when he hangs up.”

Spencer’s got no way to respond. “Sometimes friends feel the same way about each other.”

“So you guys are friends who love each other?”

“Yes. No.”

Henry continues to stare at him. Spencer’s beginning to wonder if this is what people feel like when he interrogates them. “What’s Pretty Boy mean?”

“How about we go find your baseball and mitt?”

Henry grins. “Everything’s in my room!” Henry bounds up the stairs and Spencer can actually hear Henry tear apart his bedroom to find his things.

It’s a few minutes before Henry thunders back down the stairs, and Spencer hears, “DEREK!”

“Hey, Reid,” Derek says with Henry hanging on his arm. “Skipping weights today wasn’t a problem, apparently.”

“Derek can lift me up and down with one arm!” Henry says reverently. “Can you do that, Spencer?”

Derek looks at Spencer. “Yeah, Spencer,” he says, and Spencer can tell he’s trying not to laugh, “can you do this?”

“No,” Spencer admits, “no I cannot.”

“Too bad,” says Henry. He swings a little on Derek’s arms and looks up at him. “Derek, did you know I’m having a baby sister?”

“I did,” says Derek, setting Henry down. He adjusts his baseball cap.

“Did you know that my mom is having my baby sister today, right now?”

“I did,” says Derek, “but didn’t somebody say something about baseball?”

Henry jumps up and down. “Uncle Spencer doesn’t know how to play. I said we could teach him.”

Derek eyes Spencer. “You forget about your game winning home run, there, Pretty Boy?”

“I viewed that as more of a fluke accident than a real victory, actually –”

“Don’t sell yourself short, kid, you did good.”

Henry looks like he’s about to jump out of his skin, so the three of them go down the street about half a mile and Henry runs onto the baseball field like something is chasing him.

Derek chases him, sprinting full throttle toward Henry, and Spencer takes the time to call Will.

“Hey, Spencer, how’s it going?”

“Quite well, actually. Henry woke me up around 6:30 and now we’re at the park with Derek.”

“He’ll love you forever,” Will laughs. “JJ’s doing okay but I think she might have broken my hand. She squeezes it every time a contraction hits.”

Spencer winces sympathetically. “Well that sounds painful.”

“I have a feeling it’s only going to get worse,” says Will. “Until the baby comes.”

“Well you let me know when you want us to bring Henry and if you need pain killers to go with it.”

Will barks out a laugh. “I’ll do that. You take care now.”

“Uncle Spencer!” Henry yells from across the field, “Come on, it’s baseball time!”

Spencer starts to walk, but then Derek shouts, “Hustle, Reid, hustle!” So Spencer starts jogging and then running.

He’s no better this time than he was two years before. He misses the ball twice and hits three fouls in a row.

“You can do it, Uncle Spence!” Henry says. That’s when Spencer hits a pop fly that Henry immediately catches.

“Nice catch, little man!” Derek says, picking Henry up and putting him on his shoulders.

Henry giggles in delight as Derek runs toward Spencer, and Spencer has a moment of sudden clarity that he is about to get tackled.

“Watch Henry!” is all he’s able to shout out, but Derek manages to tackle Spencer and move Henry to a safe cradle in his arms before the three of them collide to the ground.

Spencer’s laughing and Derek’s face is pressed into his neck, and Spencer tries not to register how good it feels. Henry climbs up onto Derek’s back and attaches, hugging him. “That was fun. I’m gonna go on the swings.”

Spencer feels only a minutiae of relief when Henry moves.

“I’m surprised at how effectively you’re crushing me,” Spencer says, managing to tap Derek’s arm.

“You calling me fat, kid?” Derek says, propping himself up on his elbows. He’s got a bright grin on his face and, god, Spencer really hasn’t realized how good Derek looks when he smiles.

“Actually, muscle is significantly denser than fat, so, really, I’m more calling you muscular.”

Derek stares at him for a beat, and it’s just long enough that Spencer can’t hold the eye contact.

“Have you been checking me out?” Derek says, and he’s trying to laugh, Spencer can tell Derek’s trying to laugh, but Spencer’s a good enough profiler to know that Derek’s serious.

But Spencer’s a little too nervous to respond. He’s not usually nervous around Derek, not really, but something’s changed between the two of them recently. Or maybe it’s not recent. Maybe Spencer’s just started to notice it.

“We, uh,” Spencer swallows. “We should probably go check on Henry.” Derek jumps up.

Derek looks to the side. “Henry’s on the swings.” He extends his hand to Spencer, and pulls him up. “I think he’s good.”

Spencer nods.

“What’s going on here, Spencer?” Derek asks.

“Well, I’m bad at baseball,” Spencer says. “And then you tackled me.”

“No, I mean…” Derek looks like he’s about to say something. Spencer’s not sure he wants to know what’s about to be said.

Before either of them can say another word, something slams into Spencer’s side and he suddenly finds himself on the grass again.

“What in the –?”

Spencer looks up to see Henry sitting on his chest. “Hi.”

“Hi, Henry.”

“I tackled you.”

Spencer ruffled Henry’s hair. “I can see that.”

Henry flops onto Spencer’s chest. “I’m tired.”

“Probably because we played baseball for two hours.”

“I don’t want to get up.”

Spencer struggles to sit up. “But you need to.”

“But I’m tired!”

Spencer hears Derek laughing on the side. “Come on, Spencer, he’s tired!”

Spencer laughs, and the phone rings.

“Okay, Henry, you really need to get up.”

“No, I’m resting.”

“Henry, that might be your dad.”

“Tell him I’m tired.”

Derek teaches down and plucks Henry off of Spencer’s chest, setting him on his shoulders again.

Spencer scrambles for the phone. “Will?”

“Actually, JJ.”

Spencer stands up. “She’s here?”

“She is,” says JJ, “you guys ready to come?”

“We’re on our way,” says Spencer.

“See you soon, Mommy!” Henry shouts into the phone.

“Hey, little man,” Derek says, Henry still on his shoulders, “want to race Spencer to the car?”

“Yeah!” Henry exclaims. “Ready, set, go!”

Spencer loses. Spencer loses badly.

* * *

“I can’t – it’s a car seat, why can’t I unbuckle the damned thing?!” Derek exclaims.

Henry’s eyes widen. “Uncle Spencer. He said the ‘D’ word.”

Spencer sends Derek a look.

“I meant darn,” Derek corrects. “Darn.”

“That’s not what you said,” says Henry.

“Let me try,” says Spencer. With a couple of button presses, he gets Henry out of the car seat and sends Derek a smug grin. “You may be able to outrun me. But I won the battle of the car seat.”

Derek ruffles Spencer’s hair and the three of them walk into the hospital. checking in with the reception desk, then they make their way up the stairs and to the room where JJ, Will, and the baby are.

“Mommy!” Henry shouts as he barrels in.

“Hi, baby!” JJ says. Spencer thinks she looks beautiful, just like when Henry was born. She’s holding a tiny pink bundle in her arms, someone new and already so important.

Spencer and Derek follow.

Henry looks like a natural as JJ lowers the new baby into his arms.

“She’s cute,” says Henry. “I like her.”

“Good,” says Will, “because you are stuck with her.”

JJ watches the three of them with an expression Spencer doesn’t think he’s known, then she turns to see Spencer and Derek. “Hey, godfather,” JJ says. “Meet your goddaughter.”

“Why don’t I get to be godfather?” Derek asks.                   

“You’re too old now,” JJ says, and Derek looks so offended Spencer can’t help but laugh.

“You can be my co-godparent,” Spencer says before thinking it through. He feels himself blush.

Henry hands the baby back to JJ, who rocks her gently, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Her name is Charlotte Emily,” JJ says, smiling.

“Emily’s going to lose it when she hears that,” Derek says.

“We called her right after we called you,” says Will, “she cried.”

“Emily cried?” Derek asks. “Da-darn. I said darn.” Henry gives Derek a look.

JJ puts the tiny girl into Spencer’s arms, and he feels the same way as when he first held Henry. He loves this little girl, loves little Charlotte, already.

“She’s perfect,” Spencer proclaims.

“Can I hold her?” Derek asks.

“When Spencer’s ready to let go,” JJ laughs, “which I think will be never.”

* * *

 

They leave the hospital an hour later, once Hotch and Rossi and Jack and Garcia come in, because it’s gotten crowded and Spencer is, objectively, exhausted.

“Can you drive?” Spencer asks. “I’m too tired right now.”

Derek looks at him. “I always drive.”

Spencer makes an affirming noise, but before he can say anything he falls half asleep in the seat.

“You know what?” Derek says. “You’re going home, not even grabbing your car right now. How much have you slept in the past week?”

Spencer yawns. “Been doing paperwork,” he replies. “And sometimes I forget to sleep.”

Derek rolls his eyes. “You need to take care of yourself.”

“I do take care of myself!” Spencer defends. “I haven’t forgotten to eat in, like, three weeks!”

Derek laughs. “IQ of 187 and still, somehow…”

“I forget to sleep?” Spencer turns to him.

But Derek’s smiling.

* * *

Spencer rolls over and picks up the phone at 3 in the afternoon. “What?” he asks. “What’d I miss?”

“How was your nap?”

Spencer sits up. “I was still having it. What’s up?”

“Open your door,” Derek says.

“Why? Are you going to make me play baseball again?”

Derek groans. “Just open the door.”

Spencer walks toward the door and swings it open, and Derek’s standing there with a grin. “You and I need to talk.”

“Talk about what?” Spencer asks. He knows, pretty much, what’s going on. He knows Derek’s going to tell him that they need to keep things professional and that whatever is going on in Spencer’s head needs to stop before it gets him into trouble.

Derek gestures between the two of them. “This. Look, we’ve been dancing around this for a while now and I don’t think we’ve ever had a break this long to think about it without a case blowing up in our faces and one of us getting shot.”

Spencer just blinks at him.

“You’re gonna make me keep talking?” Derek asks. Spencer just sort of looks at him. “Then I’ll keep talking. I don’t know when it happened but damn, Spencer, I just…I feel like there’s something here.” He pauses, rubbing his hand over his head. “I figure I’d just say something.”

Spencer finds himself nodding. He’s not sure why. It just seems like the best response. “Was that why you started calling me pretty boy?” Spencer asks. “Because I’m thinking back, and you haven’t always called me pretty boy. It started a few years ago. Is that when you started feeling…” Spencer trails off.

“Yeah,” says Derek, and he scratches at the back of his neck, his head ducked down. “Yeah I think – I guess I just.” He looks up. “God, Spencer, you’ve got me.”

Spencer considers it for a moment. “It’s because my face is my best asset, isn’t it.”

Derek rolls his eyes. And when Derek leans in to kiss Spencer, he grabs a fistful of Derek’s shirt and pulls him into the apartment.

Derek laughs against Spencer’s lips, and Spencer can feel it in his bones. “You putting the moves on me, pretty boy?”

Spencer responds by turning Derek and pressing him against the wall, kissing him as hard as he knows how to. It sends a bit of a thrill up Spencer’s spine when Derek moans against his mouth.

“Yeah,” Spencer says, “yeah, I think I am putting the moves on you.”


End file.
